Following Uncle Jess’s advice

Uncle Jess, my husband’s uncle with whom we spent lots of time when we lived back east, had many words of wisdom. One line that stuck with me is when he told us, "Get involved in a local political campaign once in your life."

My husband and I have thought about doing this a lot over the years, but this year we finally jumped in.

I live in San Jose, California, and our city council elections are non-partisan, which means candidates do not run under a party affiliation. I love this because it feels like the focus is on local issues rather than national party platforms. And this means that people from every political leaning come together to work for our local community and if you know me at all, you know I’m all about community.

But this year, our local city council representative isn’t seeking re-election, so we pondered if it made sense to volunteer for another district. We did some research, talked to a few people and realized that — of course — it matters. San Jose has 10 districts and they all work together to make our city great. In fact, San Jose has a “weak mayor” form of government, which means that the mayor has limited executive powers, and the city council holds significant authority over city administration and policy-making. This makes city council races even more important and influential.

So we reached out to two different campaigns, and since every campaign needs volunteers they make it very easy to get involved; I just filled out a form on their websites and voila, I was part of the team! We started simple — my 17-year-old daughter and I showed up to help prepare literature (sounds fancy but we just taped a message to door hangers). We got to meet the campaign manager, the candidate, and many volunteers, from an enthusiastic 8th grade student to a seasoned senior citizen. It was pretty enlightening chatting with the candidate in such a relaxed setting; we got real talk, not campaign messages.

Then I participated in a couple of canvassing events where we distributed door hangers with information about the candidates. We showed up, got put into small teams and headed out to different precincts to spread the word. (I learned more about the importance of precincts; did you know that they are the smallest units of electoral organization used to manage and conduct elections? Talk about local!).?

We were assigned 275 houses and there was something very satisfying about literally being the boots on the ground. It was fun to see new neighborhoods, share information and actually be part of the democratic process. One of the candidates running for city council reminded us that these door hangers are important locally, but also could be the prompt to get someone to vote for the first time too; this really struck me and made the work feel even more meaningful.

All of this reminded me about the importance of getting involved, being part of my community and participating in our democracy; I feel like I’m taking a hands-on civics course and it’s so fun! Here are some ideas if you are interested in getting involved more:

• Register to vote (or double check to make sure you are registered)
• Learn who your city council person is (for example, San Jose city council districts)
• Serve on a local board or commission for your city
• Volunteer for a local race — city, county, school board, judge
• Learn about the local issues facing your community and find ways to engage.

If it sounds intriguing, just give it a go — you can start slowly, ask lots of questions and learn as you go! Local government is where interesting things happen, where ideas are born and where your voice can make a difference. So thanks to Uncle Jess for planting this political seed all those years ago … we are finally watering it and will be excited to watch it blossom.